Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS (Post 718201)

It's a pretty sad statement to the older males when you have a horse like Blame - who's run Beyers in the 101-to-103 range in five of his last six career starts .. and even so I thought enough of him to make him my 2nd pick in this race in the paper today.

Originally Posted by the_fat_man (Post 718205)

Who was your pick? (Or maybe I should ask: how many other 'picks' did you get in the race?)

Originally Posted by knickslions2 (Post 718211)

All I know it was the easiest exacta of the whole two days and paid 33 and change. It is a shame we didn't see more of Zenyatta on dirt.

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS (Post 718201)

I think what might get lost here is how horrid this field was in relation to past editions of this race.

Whoever was riding First Dude caused a huge pace collapse .. it basically was supposed to be a stone cold Blame 1st and Fly Down 2nd type of race at that point. Credit John Shireffs - he has an amazing record when he points for an objective. Zenyatta ran much better than I thought she would.

The final time was a joke. Uncle Mo is going to get a Beyer figure only 3 full points slower than Blame will for winning a wildly sub-par edition of the Classic.

I remember everyone make a huge deal about about how Arazi was the star of the 1991 Breeders Cup ... keep in mind he needed 1:46.40 in his blowout win over Bertrando.. Uncle Mo needed 1:42.60 today ... his final time was 3.80 full seconds (or 22 lengths) faster than Arazi's in his destruction Bertrando.

Blame's final time of 2:02.28 - was just 0.52 seconds faster than Black Tie Affair's 2:02.80 Breeders Cup Classic win at Churchill also in 1991.

It's a pretty sad statement to the older males when you have a horse like Blame - who's run Beyers in the 101-to-103 range in five of his last six career starts .. and even so I thought enough of him to make him my 2nd pick in this race in the paper today.

There was no slouch like Volponi or Mine That Bird out there today to deep six this field and make a mockery of them ... but this group was asking for it. Japan sent over the wrong horse. A speedy miler off of a bad prep .. had they sent over some late running dirt closer in halfway decent form - they probably win this.

Originally Posted by Danzig (Post 718169)

the funny thing is, her ardent and airheaded fans who know nothing about racing will be incredibly disappointed, while anyone who knows anything about racing will say that was her best effort ever. yes, she lost. but she showed more today against the best field she's ever faced than against those soon forgotten cupcakes in cali.

it also shows glaringly just how much her chickenhearted connections have cost her. she should have been racing like today all year, instead of racing in paid glorified workouts.

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin (Post 718222)

I think the time of the race is very misleading because every day at Churchill the track slows down over the course of the day. I don't know if it was like that in past years but I've noticed that consistently this year.

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS (Post 718232)

The track was consistant ... just as Blame is amazingly consistant when it comes to running Beyers in the 101-to-103 range and 3rd place finisher Fly Down is amazingly consistant at running Beyers in the 93-to-98 range.

5 of Blame's last 6 Beyers were in that range - and 4 of 5 Fly Down's last five starts were.

Obviously Uncle Mo would have got soundly beaten in the Classic because he's a speed horse and would have been forced to deal with the other four horses battling it out who all got beat by a mile... but this race was as sub par as it gets.

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS (Post 718232)

The track was consistant ... just as Blame is amazingly consistant when it comes to running Beyers in the 101-to-103 range and 3rd place finisher Fly Down is amazingly consistant at running Beyers in the 93-to-98 range.

5 of Blame's last 6 Beyers were in that range - and 4 of 5 Fly Down's last five starts were.

Obviously Uncle Mo would have got soundly beaten in the Classic because he's a speed horse and would have been forced to deal with the other four horses battling it out who all got beat by a mile... but this race was as sub par as it gets.

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin (Post 718276)

You could argue Lookin at Lucky consistently runs Beyers in the 102-105 range and Fly Down ran a 105 on his best day. Blame ran a 111 Beyer two races back. So you could certainly make the argument that Blame and Zenyatta ran Beyers in the 110 range today.

By the way, there wasn't exactly a suicide pace in this race. They went the half in :47. It was a solid pace but it wasn't suicidal by any means.

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin (Post 718276)

You could argue Lookin at Lucky consistently runs Beyers in the 102-105 range and Fly Down ran a 105 on his best day. Blame ran a 111 Beyer two races back. So you could certainly make the argument that Blame and Zenyatta ran Beyers in the 110 range today.

By the way, there wasn't exactly a suicide pace in this race. They went the half in :47. It was a solid pace but it wasn't suicidal by any means.

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin (Post 718249)

My point is that I think if the race went earlier in the day, they run 2:01 1/5 or so rather than 2:02 1/5.

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin (Post 718276)

You could argue Lookin at Lucky consistently runs Beyers in the 102-105 range and Fly Down ran a 105 on his best day. Blame ran a 111 Beyer two races back. So you could certainly make the argument that Blame and Zenyatta ran Beyers in the 110 range today.

Originally Posted by Theatrical (Post 718223)

It is so enlightening to be put in a blanket assessment of Z's fans as airheaded. Am I ardent? You bet your ass I am. She may have lost by a head, but look who finished behind her.

Am I disappointed? Sure am, but Blame was very game. My girl made up a huge amount of distance to just miss. I could not be more proud of her.

She is a champion, despite the garbage that has been written. On another forum, where she has been sliced and diced unmercifully, those guys have shown a level of respect for her performance today. And, they didn't refer to Z's fans as some sort of circus show. Some of them got what made her fans so passionate about her.

She will probably be retired and I am glad. Posts like yours, after a race of this magnitude, just reinforce this mare could never do enough to suit.

It's time for another horse to take over the mantle of not being able to satisfy the armchair trainers.

Originally Posted by ateamstupid (Post 718282)

For 10 furlongs, that's very fast, and the 1-2-3-4 runners finished 8-12-10-11. It was a meltdown.

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin (Post 718276)

You could argue Lookin at Lucky consistently runs Beyers in the 102-105 range and Fly Down ran a 105 on his best day. Blame ran a 111 Beyer two races back. So you could certainly make the argument that Blame and Zenyatta ran Beyers in the 110 range today.

By the way, there wasn't exactly a suicide pace in this race. They went the half in :47. It was a solid pace but it wasn't suicidal by any means.

Originally Posted by fpsoxfan (Post 718170)

She ran an impressive race. Nothing to be ashamed of. I'm not a Zentard but there is a lot to love about this horse.

Originally Posted by ateamstupid (Post 718282)

For 10 furlongs, that's very fast, and the 1-2-3-4 runners finished 8-12-10-11. It was a meltdown.